sport – Pete's Blog

When I was growing up there were just two forms of cricket. Test matches between international teams took five days. County matches took three days. Then the big innovation – one day cricket with sixty overs a side. It was treated as “not proper cricket” by the old timers but was more fun to watch and to play. That was that for many years, but in 2008 the India Premier League introduced a new format – 20:20 – in which new city based teams, dressed in colourful outfits, played a league of games over a few weeks, with each game being just 20 overs a side, so a game could be played in an evening. Once again there were many cricket pundits who dismissed the new format as childish, but it took off immediately and has become very successful across the world. The short matches encouraged big hitting from the batters and aggressive bowling.

Then three years ago in the UK, a yet shorter format was developed. “The Hundred” has 20 five ball overs a side – just 100 balls.

The Hundred has been successful for both the men’s and women’s games and is popular with families. On Monday I was lucky enough to be invited by my brother to watch the Oval Invincibles play the Trent Rockets in London., alongside my niece and her husband, and one of my sons.

We were lucky with the weather and both games were exciting with the likely winner changing every few balls, as wickets fell, or boundaries were struck. My brother had brought an excellent picnic and more than a few beers were supped over the afternoon and evening. We got the train home feeling very happy.

Is it as good as a five day test match? It is just different. The test match is more relaxed and more strategic, but oh what fun to watch six after six and amazing catches on the boundary.

And for those that care, the Oval Invincibles won, and will be playing in the men’s final on Sunday. I don’t have tickets but will be watching on TV.

This week I watched a whole cricket test match for the first time. A couple of blogs ago I wrote about learning to love American Football (well done the Buccaneers). At least with cricket I know the rules. And I have been to a day of a test match before – it requires a very different mindset to watching short form cricket such as 20:20. You settle into your seat, and read a newspaper or have a drink while the game goes on slowly slowly. One of my followers, Matt, commented that American Football is like chess with violence. Test cricket is like chess but slower. And this week I committed to all five days of England against India.

For many people, the idea of spending five days watching a sports game would seem to be a complete waste of time. Especially when one of the likely outcomes is a draw. But the opportunity for me was a luxury that I would never have chosen when I was working. And I found it to bring a kind of mindfulness.

Over the years I have practiced a little amateur meditation in order to wash away the cares in my mind. By actions such as concentrating on relaxing areas of my body, I have found a peacefulness that has helped during times of stress. I found the test match did much the same for me. There were moments of excitement when I sat forward to see whether a wicket would be taken or runs scored. But for much of the time I found that repeated quiet defensive play became really quite relaxing.

Now I should confess that in UK time, each day started at 4am, so I missed the first hour or two. I also often took the dogs out in the snow while listening to the match on my headphones. But I think the principle of enjoying slow play still applies. So much so that I plan to watch the second test starting tomorrow.

Most of us live in a rush where we resent wasted time. Technology such as mobile phones has made this worse. How many of us look at our phones whenever we get a spare 30 seconds? Even when we go on holiday, too many of us are “always on”. So I think I am privileged to be learning that taking time just to be me can be so rewarding.

Have you ever watched a test match? Or maybe took several days to do as little as possible? Let me know.

Tag: sport

Howzat?

Is five days watching a sports game a waste of your time?